Blessed Curse
by Kur0Kishi
Summary: "I ask of you again, Helena Potter, Girl-Who-Lived. Are you my Master?" Who is this tall, emerald eyed, man. And why does he look so much like Helena Potter? Will the benefits of allying herself with this enigmatic person outweight the costs?
1. Are You My Master?

**Blessed Curse Chapter 1**

**Are You My Master?**

**Disclaimer : I do Not own Harry Potter. He and whatever affiliated material is owned by J.K Rowling. **

A new story. A new idea. How fun. Incidentally, I am an Asian, so I am not very familiar with British culture and slangs. What do we call them again? Brit Pickers? Anyway, any of you who are good with 1980-ish British culture and slangs are welcome to help. If not, readers, please take this fic with a hint of salt.

Pictures are on profile as usual.

**Soundtrack List**

Fate/Extra OST – Archer. The Hero Who Nobody Knows

******Blessed Curse******

The morning dawned nice and bright but sadly enough Helen couldn't say the same for herself as she slowly burrowed deeper into her bed covers, trying to put off the inevitable for as long as possible. Outside the window, she could see it was going to be an abnormally sunny day with clear weather and bright skies.

Great.

The easier it would be for the dragon to roast her.

"Get up you lazy bum! It's nearly time for class! We're going to miss breakfast."

Helen mumbled incoherently at the high pitched sound of her best friend's voice urging her to get her scared arse out of bed. She was half tempted to snark back, something along the lines of; _'It's my last day alive. Don't you have the slightest bit of decency to at least let me sleep in?' _but didn't because she knew that all it would do was cause Hermione to get into an even bigger snit.

Just then Hermione took it another step further and jumped onto her bed.

"Mionee?"

Said girl grinned triumphantly and began to tickle her.

"HAHAHA-st-ha-Nooo!-hah-stop! I'm get-hahaha-getting up! Mione!" Helen laughed and screamed from under Hermione's generous ministrations.

The brown haired girl stepped back with a visibly satisfied smile on her face, "See that you do!"

A bush of messily mussed and long wavy jet black hair slowly emerged from within the mound of covers; teary emerald green eyes blearily peered out from behind long eye lashes, the owner of the eyes were busy gasping for air from laughing so hard. Even now she was still feeling the after effects and was tempted to start giggling again despite her hurting ribs.

Hermione sighed happily, "Feel better?"

Helen gave her best friend a pointed glare that slowly morphed into a lopsided grin, "Thanks. I guess I needed that."

"I thought as much." The brown haired girl hopped on the bed beside her friend with a piercing look, "How are you really?"

"I'm about to die in a few hours. How am I supposed to feel?" Helen dryly replied with a resigned smirk.

"Prat. Come on. Let's get you dressed up and ready for breakfast."

Helen couldn't help but roll her eyes as her bossy friend dragged her out of bed to the toilet. Though she couldn't find it in herself to be upset with the bookworm. Hermione was probably the only person in Hogwarts who was even more worried about the Tournament then Helen was even if she wasn't the one who was actually forced to participate in it. For that alone, Helen was already incredibly grateful, seeing that right at this moment, the number of people who probably truly believed that she didn't enter this accursed Tournament could be counted on one hand, including the last member of their trio; Ronald Weasley.

Although most of Gryffindor didn't think she had entered willingly, most of them worshipped her for being able to find a way through Dumbledore's magical protection that no one else had thought of.

The Hufflepuffs bristled like someone had stolen their spotlight away; which was exactly what had happened. Considering the fact that their low profile house rarely got any credit for any amazing events, Cedric entering the Tournament had been a boon for them, so she didn't blame them. Even the normally friendly Professor Sprout had looked indignant.

The Ravenclaws were obviously going to take a neutral stand but it was also equally obvious that many of them were just doing it out of habit. The looks in their eyes during the past few weeks couldn't have stated their opinions any better than if they went and shouted it from the very top of the Astronomy Tower.

The Slytherins? Well, no surprises there. Those that had never interacted with her stayed that way. Those that did, mainly her rival Malfoy, all but threw it in her face with their taunts and jeers.

God forbid she have too many friends, it's not like her life wasn't bad enough already, Helen thought with another roll of her eyes.

"What are you rolling your eyes like that for?" Without even waiting for an answer, her friend thrust a comb into her hands, "Here, hurry and brush your hair!"

Sighing, Helen decided to just do as she was ordered to and started pulling the brush along her hair, or Hermione would start fussing again and they would never get down to breakfast in time. By the time she had finally pulled the comb through the last of the knots in her bed hair, the sun had fully risen. Patting down her skirt and blazer, she gave the disappointingly short and petite teenage girl in the mirror a small shy smile.

Long wavy jet black hair hung low over one side of her heart shaped face, partially hiding a thunderbolt shaped scar on her forehead while clear emerald green eyes glinted underneath long eyelashes. Her hair, despite having just been combed had begun to stick out again, making her wonder why she even bothered. Her white shirt was unbuttoned at the top, revealing creamy white skin and a loose red and white Gryffindor tie. Patting her skirt one more to make sure it settled nicely on her hips, she wound her hand around Hermione's and the two of them began chatting quietly on the way down to breakfast, both of them making the not so subtle effort to keep her mind away from her impending doom.

Her mood did not last.

The moment she stepped through the magnificent wooden doors of the Great Hall, the loud voices of a thousand school children excitedly talking had been instantly replaced by a silence as absolute as the void itself.

Helen immediately ducked her head down as she felt a fire start to rage in her chest. Being watched like some freaky exhibit like a zoo, she hated that above everything else. It was as if she was nothing but entertainment for the residents of Hogwarts. She peered up from underneath her bangs and bristled.

Even the teachers were watching her.

Just as instantly as the silence came, it went, replaced by a muted whispering that resounded throughout the massive Hall like a thousand chirping birds.

Anger and fear fought for dominance in Helen's chest as Hermione gently guided her to the very end of Gryffindor's table and slowly began piling sausages and eggs on her plate. Helen peeked out from under her bangs again, surveying the Gryffindor table. Nearly half of them were focused on their plates but were obviously sneaking glances at her whenever they could. On the far end, Ron was obviously trying very hard to shovel food and sneer and then snort at her at the same time. She figured it was a pureblood thing.

Frankly, if Helena was in the mood, it would have been hilarious since he almost always spewed chewed bits of food out through his nostrils every time he sneered and snorted at her.

The other half wasn't even trying to be subtle. Some were openly smiling, grinning or staring at her. That little boy, Cevy? Creevey? Was even rapidly snapping photographs with this stupidly excited smile on his face.

Probably to adorn her funeral, Helen thought glumly until a slight nudge from beside her brought her back to reality, "Come on, eat up Helen." Hermione gently urged.

Helen shot her fuzzy haired friend a grateful smile and began to slowly chew on a fat greasy sausage. Offhandedly she wondered why they tasted like rubber even with liberal ketchup on it.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Somewhere inside her, Helen was aware that time was passing normally and that she had attended every one of her morning class but was too busy blankly staring straight ahead with a weird continuous buzz in her head to notice anything. She barely even noticed that lunch had come and pass and it was now time for the main event.

The bottom of her stomach felt like it dropped out of the sky as she saw McGonagall striding up to her right after lunch, "Miss Potter. Are you alright?"

Helen couldn't trust herself to say so anything and just nodded with a weak smile.

"Hey look, its Potty. How long do you think the slut will last? I bet 2 minutes. Any takers?" the sound of Malfoy's jeers wafted over to her, causing Helen's shoulders to start shaking violently.

"Mr. Malfoy. 10 points from Slytherin." McGonagall curtly reprimanded the Malfoy heir with a disapproving tone.

The pale blonde boy simply grinned victoriously at Helena despite the loss of points and slunk away with his posse of snakes.

The strict grey haired teacher's lips thinned into a scowl before her gun metal grey eyes caught sight of the trembling girl. The Transfiguration teacher forced her scowl into a more supportive smile and gently touched the girl's shoulder, "Come with me, Miss Potter. I'll take you to where the competitors are supposed to meet."

Helen simply nodded once more, forcing down the bile rising in her throat and allowed the older teacher to guide her steps out into the afternoon daylight and her impending fight with a 6 ton, 50 feet long fire breathing reptile.

She wondered if it was too late to put on some sun block.

******Blessed Curse******

The inside of the tent was strangely silent considering the amount of cheering and excitable students on the other side of the piece of cloth, not to mention large roaring reptiles. The only sounds that floated in were the occasional shouts from Bagman's enhanced voice that even the magically silenced tent could not stop.

Helen couldn't help but look around in a surreal daze that made her feel as if she was viewing everything from inside a dream. If not for the slight twinges from her thumb where the small black model of a Hungarian Horntail was gnawing on it, Helena would have been tempted to pinch her cheeks no matter how cheesy it looked. Yet the lump of solid fear in her tummy would not go away, she felt as if her entire life had been leading up to this moment where it would end on the wrong side of a Dragon.

In the front side, and whatever remained would come out the back side that is.

Not an entirely pleasant thought.

She drew a deep steadying breath. It didn't work.

Cedric had been the first to be called and judging by the amount of cheering that slipped into the tent every time the flap was opened, the sixth year had apparently successfully netted his egg. Fleur had then shakily stood up and started walking towards the flap. Helena barely spared her a weak encouraging smile before returning to her own hazy thoughts. Shortly after, Krum had followed Fleur's footsteps with a surly and gloomy look on his face.

Helen had promptly decided not to waste a smile on him.

The fact that all she had to depend on was the flimsy idea of accio-ing her Firebolt and try to outfly a natural born killing machine wasn't really helping her outlook on life.

"**otter…. is…. Miss Potter? It's your turn!"**

"W-huh?" Reality abruptly returned and Helen barely had time to register the fact that Krum had obviously gotten past his dragon and it was now her turn. She swallowed the lump in her throat and unsteadily made her way to the opening.

Brushing past it, she briefly heard the roaring of a multi headed, flesh colored monster in the stands, a sound that was quickly muted as if by magic the moment she was treated to the intimidating sight of what highly resembled a miniature basin shaped rock quarry, with her on one side and a massive, huge, roaring, black, spiky, and every other monstrous adjective her muddled brain could currently think of, Hungarian Horntail. The hissing reptile was crouched on an overhanging rock above a clutch of cement colored eggs. She wouldn't even have noticed the eggs considering how well they blended into the environment had it not been for her target.

Smack dab in between the cluster of eggs, Helen could see a glint of gold.

It was of a similar size, shape and color to its natural brethren but the gold color gave it away as the target of this god forsaken tournament...

Helen couldn't help but swallow again. The task was beginning to look nigh impossible. Not for a small fourth year like her.

A spark of blue flames, reminiscent to Hermione's bluebell flames hurriedly brought her smashing back into reality, along with it was the roars and jeers from the audience and Helen was forced to hide from a tidal wave of orange flames behind a massive boulder.

Quickly, she chastised herself for losing focus in the middle of something so important and shakily fumbled around in her pocket for her wand, cursing herself for being so inattentive at the same time.

"A-Accio!"

The girl trembled shakily behind her rock as she waited for a sound other than the jeering of a bunch of barbarians and Bagman's useless announcements, 10 seconds passed before she realized she had fumbled the spell. Cursing quietly under her breath again, she darted to another rocky covering closer to the dragon and held out her wand, enunciating the spell as clearly as she could, "ACCIO!"

Her heart lifted as she felt the spell take hold, but it was unfortunately short lived as she felt her rocky shield shudder under the weight of something heavy.

Shakily, she looked up straight into a gaping pink maw filled with sharp glinting teeth and smelt of rotting meat.

In the depths of the maw, she could see a small blue spark begin. Helen immediately rolled away desperately, not wishing to find out firsthand what that rumbling sound of something coming out of that long snake like throat meant.

Not a second too late, she rolled away from a blast of super heated flames that literally melted her rock and darted from rock to rock as the lizard agilely chased her with thundering footsteps despite its tremendous size. She grit her teeth at the sounds of bone claws screeching on rock and tried as hard as she could to gain some space from the giant lizard until her broom could make it.

Time slowed and emerald eyes widened in horror as she lost her footing on the slick rocks and slipped with a resounding crack. The clicking sounds of serrated claws on stone caused her to look up at the lizard that was bearing down on her with an almost disgustingly happy leer. Desperately, she tried to get up but almost fell back again with a pained yelp. Her ankle had almost definitely been broken or at least sprained. Yelping again, she began to panic and crawl away from the dragon, hoping to find some small opening that she could use to hide herself in until a massive spiked tail slammed into the ground, spikes gouging deep holes into the relatively softer earth, closing off her only escape route.

Her fall had caused her to land directly into the middle of the basin. Right in the flat center, surrounded by mountains of rocks. Vaguely she could see the dragon tamers scrambling over the rocks to save her.

She knew they wouldn't make it in time.

Slowly she turned around to find the Hungarian Horntail leering at her with one massive paw already reared back.

She closed her eyes and began to cry.

She didn't want to die.

Not yet.

Defiantly, she opened her eyes again, ignoring her tears and pointed her wand at the Horntail's snout, "Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!"

Bolt after bolt of red light was sent into the Horntrail's maw, each blast had enough power to send it stumbling backwards but when the barrage ended all it did was shake its head in an annoyed manner and roared even louder. It was beyond pissed.

Helen had to drop her wand with a yelp, her repeated blasts had caused it to overheat and the wood was now glowing a hot cherry red. The Horntail began hurtling towards her like a moving earthquake before slashing downwards with one heavy claws.

Her life wasn't perfect, but as long as she was alive, she could still fix it.

**Play Fate/Extra OST – Archer. The Hero Who Nobody Knows**

She didn't want to die.

Helena had long since stopped paying attention to the horrified screams of the crowd, so she did not notice when it slowly shuddered to a stop as time literally slowed down and gradually froze. The Horntail's clawed paw froze mid fall.

_**Do you want to live?**_

She thought she heard a voice. Brushing it off as a figment of a her imagination, there was no way she could hear someone talking right now. In the gaps of the claws, Helen saw the wide blue sky.

"Of course I want to live." She muttered to herself not even wondering why everything had frozen.

_**Why?**_

This time she was sure it was someone else other than her. The voice was clear and it sounded male.

"Whose there?" she looked around frantically, only to discover a frozen scene. Like a caricature out of hell where horrified screaming faces had been frozen. Like the world had been bleached from color.

"I said, who is there?"

There was no reply.

Hesitantly, Helen decided to answer the question, "I'm afraid... I don't want to be cold…."

There was no reply but Helen got the feeling that the disembodied voice was patiently waiting for an honest answer. She wasn't sure how she realized that.

Her mouth opened and shut noiselessly before she forced it out, "I…. I don't want to die like this. I want to die as Helena Rose Potter, not the Girl-Who-Lived! I want to be a real existence! It's so unfair! I've lived in a cupboard my whole life, I haven't been to Disneyland, I haven't done anything that proves my existence as Helena Potter!" she screamed to the sky.

As if called upon by her declaration a huge mirror, nearly 8 feet tall slowly phased out of thin air in front of her. Warily she looked into it.

There was nothing reflected in the glass. No there was something, it was hard to describe, as if some dark haze was obscuring her view, leaving only two burning emerald orbs watching her. Was… that her reflection? It didn't feel like it.

_**Kukuku….. Shout it loud. Scream it to the world. Cry your name. PROVE YOUR EXISTENCE! **_

By the end of the sentence, the reflection in the mirror was roaring at her.

Helena didn't hesitate.

"MY NAME IS HELENA POTTER AND I WILL NOT DIE UNTIL I HAVE PROOF OF MY EXISTENCE!"

The mirror shattered and time resumed with a cacophony of screams, screeches and roars.

Helena defiantly glared at the huge claws flecked with brown bits, uncaring that she would die until the sound of steel displacing air swished from behind her.

A blade halted the claw's advances with a burst of sparks as steel met bone. The blade above her eyes was split down the middle, creating a two pronged blade with one edge slightly longer than the other, both of them dangerously thin. It looked so fragile. Her eyes followed the sparking blade, halfway up, alloy was embedded into wood; knobbled, twisted wood that looked like it was about to start rotting.

At the pinnacle of the half blade, half staff was a emerald multi faceted orb, surrounded by old wooden vines that all but glowed with power.

The staff was being held with one hand.

Helena blinked; one lean arm was holding back the massive muscle power of a dragon's swipe with nothing but a fragile blade?

The arm pulled back slightly before its owner heaved a muted grunt and the blade shoved the dragon back, somehow throwing the massive lizard onto its back with an amount of force disproportionate to the slight action.

From her seated position on the ground, she tilted her head backwards until a strong jaw line and jet black hair filled her perspective, followed by a lean chest covered with a thin and angular fur lined half breastplate.

Emerald green eyes stared with shock into emerald green eyes.

"I have heeded the call. I ask of you now. Are you my master?" the stranger intoned with a half smirk, the sentence although carelessly uttered, seemed to contain a measure of reverence and ritualism, something she was vaguely aware off.

Before she could answer, an angry roar from the dragon which had flipped itself up again began to rampage its way towards its two puny preys.

The stranger twirled his staff, faster and faster until it was whistling. A visible deep green aura slowly enveloped the staff and Helen realized with a start that it was emanating an incredible amount of electricity as the air began to smell like ozone.

The green eyed man carefully side stepped the prone girl and swung the staff like a hammer just as the dragon was about to bite him in half. The crystalline emerald orb at the very end collided with the Horntail's lower jaw with a resounding crack and discharged its payload, a massive deep green thunder flash directly into the dragon's skull.

As Helen watched the Dragon soar through the sky without wings, she doubted it would be chewing anything any time soon. She picked up a tooth fragment with numb fingers and inspected it. She suspected that she was currently in shock and was simply looking for something to take her mind off the more crazy things. Like the man in front of her.

The stranger turned around and smirked again.

"I ask of you again. Are you my Master?"

A nonplussed Helen couldn't avoid the intense emerald stare.

"Um… yes?"

The stranger chuckled, a deep but youthful sound, "Very well. It is good to finally to meet you Master. I am the Counter Guardian."

******Blessed Curse******

**Author's Notes**

This fic was born of an interesting concept that me and a friend were talking about. There are so many time travel, so many Harry physically came back in time and adopted younger Harries, different dimension Harries, that I wanted to try something different. Plus, most of them weren't even half completed so I decided to try.

I'm fairly sure most of those who've followed my works for a while already know my beautiful and essay worthy opinion on Harry Potter canon, so I won't say anything but I wanted to know if anything like this has been done before. I've only ever really read pure HP fics, never really interested in crossovers, haven't found one worth reading either, so I'm not sure but I don't want to be accused of copying or something.

Anyway, review, etc etc.


	2. The Embodiment of Balance

**Blessed Curse Chapter 2**

**Embodiment of Balance**

**Disclaimer : I do Not own Harry Potter. He and whatever affiliated material is owned by J.K Rowling. Standard Nasu-verse disclaimer applies as well.**

A new chapter after about one and a half months of absence. Well, I did mention that I'm going to be extremely busy didn't I, what with the visa extension issues, internship, classes and etc. Worst case scenario, unstable updates till Ocotober at the very latest.

**Soundtrack List**

Secrets – One Republic

******Blessed Curse******

A small girl with long wavy raven haired sat on a chair in the competitors' tent as the judges outside deliberated about what marks to award her since she hadn't actually gotten the egg or defeated the dragon on her own. Her grip tightened on the golden egg on her lap.

Her shoulders periodically trembled from the remnants of her harrowingly close shave with ultimate death mere minutes ago. Fortunately, her attention wasn't on her own troubles, but rather, on the tall, stoic armoured man with hair equally as black as hers.

His face carefully blank but Helen could see his bright green eyes roving around, inspecting the area with a sharp glint. Hidden underneath that glint however, Helen noticed a dissonant light.

The light of a child happily inspecting something nostalgic. How can a TENT be nostalgic? An alien concept to be sure, but one Helen couldn't seem to disprove as she desperately mucked around in her head to fill the silence in that tent.

"Yo-you called yourself a... Counter Guardian? Wha-what is that?"

The raven haired man shifted uncomfortably, "We are... spirits bound to Gaia for a specific task and materialized when needed by a catalyst. As such, the phrase Counter Guardian is something of a title." Seeing the girl on the edge of her seat just waiting for him to continue, his green eyes glittered with mirth, "In general, Spirits like me are divided into seven categories based on our abilities. With the exception of Rider, I am fully capable of using all other classes although I excel at being an Assassin, Saber or Caster; and at the moment I have been summoned as a Caster."

"Caster? Wha-what are those exactly? Who are you? Where did you come from? What task are you here for?" Helen's pale skin promptly bloomed a healthy pink at the awkward flood of questions that had unintentionally left her lips but couldn't help the need to sate her curiosity despite the morbid circumstance.

The stranger didn't immediately reply, merely inspecting her with that curiously childish glint in his emerald eyes as if judging if she was worthy to hear the answers to her questions when the both of them heard a flapping of wings.

Perking up, both raven haired individuals looked up, one filled with surprise and the other with welcoming as jet black raven dove through the opening and spread its massive wingspan to halt its descent before flapping its way to the armoured man in short steady bursts.

The Counter Guardian smiled warmly and held out a hand for the raven to perch on, "I was wondering where you went off to, Hugin. Where is Munin?"

The black raven swiftly inspected the armoured man with one beady eye before squawking loudly and shuffling around on its makeshift perch while preening. The black haired man simply nodded as if that squawk had answered his question before turning back to the awestruck girl watching the raven that was nearly as big as her entire forearm, something Hugin seemed to notice since the raven was preening under the girl's gaze, "For now, you can call me..." the man glanced aside at the raven and a wry smile lit up his face, "You can call me Caster."

Seeing her pout at the impersonal name, the man's grin grew wider, "Or Hawke."

Helen blinked, "Hawke?" she too glanced at the raven and narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the man, "That's not what you are really called is it?"

The man smiled at her shrewdness, "I'm glad you don't seem too shaken by our earlier little incident with that lizard."

Helen paled immediately and swayed on her chair as those words immediately brought back her memories of staring down a massive jaw filled with razor sharp fangs, she could even smell the stench of rotting flesh emanating from that maw, she was about to bolt out of the tent and find a water closet when a large, warm and comforting hand was placed on her shoulder, steadying her.

The raven who was now perched on the man's shoulder peered down at her with emerald eyes as he gave her a smile, the soothing warmth from the hand on her shoulder seemed to slowly spread across her entire being; settling her upset tummy and focusing on her twisted ankle and various minor wounds that she had obtained from the skirmish.

"For now, all you need to know is that Hawke will suffice and that your wish is my command."

Helen gulped down the lump in her throat at his declaration but before she could say anything the flaps of the tent was thrown open and a man stormed in, followed by a bouncing man with a beer belly, a pale Crouch complete with quivering handlebar moustache, a worried looking Professor Dumbledore and a large... very large woman, Madam Oliphant or something... Helen couldn't find it in herself to make the effort to remember the Beauxbaton's Headmistress at the moment, barely having enough will to suppress a giggle at the sight of the goatee quivering in anger on the first man's weak chin.

"This is an outrage! Not only does your competitor cheat her way into the tournament, now she finds some man whore or deluded fan boy to do the task for her and you are willing to give her points?!" Karkaroff spat loudly with a heavy Bulgarian accent.

"I object to that last one. I am NOT a fan boy." A calm voice pointed out.

Helen bit her lip to stop the laughter and immediately sharply nudged the thigh beside her, immediately regretting it as she bruised her elbow on Hawke's hip armour plates.

Ignoring the black haired man who so resembled James Potter, Dumbledore coughed slightly, "As you can see Ms Potter, we have a problem with awarding you marks since you had someone to help y-"

"I don't see a problem then. I am a 'something'. Not a 'someone'." The black haired man commented idly again, stunning everybody in the tent.

"What? What do you mean something?!" Karkaroff spat out in rage.

"Karkaroff, get a hold of yourself!" the large woman sharply ordered the Durmstrang Headmaster and calmly turned back to the armoured man who seemed completely at ease despite being the centre of attention from a group of powerful witch and wizards.

Well... she would argue about Ludo and Karkaroff but never mind, "Explain." She ordered curtly as if the man was just another one of her misbehaving students.

Hawke gave her an easy smile, "Gladly. I am what you would classify as a magic construct, an elemental, with a modicum of self awareness, summoned by my Master's wild magic in her moment of need. By definition, I am nothing but her sword and shield, no different from a moving, talking _stupefy_ and her wishes are quite literally my command."

"Master?"

One metallic finger pointed at the slight girl beside him.

Helen felt like shrinking behind Hawke as all eyes present were turned on her, just barely winning over the urge, instead all she did was lean into the armoured man's side a little, prompting a supportive squeeze from the hand on her shoulder.

Olympe nodded slowly while Dumbledore watched the discussion with narrowed eyes as he allowed the large Headmistress to continue her own line of investigation, "I can understand the logic in that... Summoning is an _obscure_ branch of magic, even by normal standards, too many variations of the same thing to be entirely dependable. But most elementals lack any sort of intelligence or awareness, something you obviously don't."

Hawke offered his gauntleted arm to the gathered headmasters casually, "If you have a qualified healer nearby, I freely submit myself to her diagnoses."

Dumbledore nodded and gestured for the nervous Ludo Bagman to retrieve Madam Pomfrey who just happened to be outside the tent, bristling at being barred from attending to her secretly favourite student.

Hawke simply gave the rotund witch a gentle smile as she bulldozed her way through the assembled Headmasters after being given permission and began casting spell after spell Helen without even glancing at the armoured man beside her.

She blinked in surprise when the results of her diagnostic spells finally materialized, "You're not hurt."

Helen rolled her eyes and muttered dryly, "You don't have to sound so surprised."

"Well... uhm uh... right..."

"Poppy, we understand that you are concerned about Ms. Potter, but would you mind diagnosing the gentleman beside her? He claims to be a self aware magical construct and we need you to verify his claims." Dumbledore said as he gently redirected the Hogwarts Nurse to the task at hand.

As if just only noticing the tall presence that loomed beside her, the motherly nurse took half a step back in shock, especially when she noticed the large black raven perched on the man's shoulder, watching her out of ominously glinting eyes.

Hawke did nothing to react to her gesture but simply continued to hold out his armoured hand though Helen noticed that the grip on her shoulder had tensed slightly.

Visibly steeling herself, the Nurse started casting her diagnostic spells again on the offered arm, everyone behind her were visibly leaning forward, excited to see the results though their motivations were all obviously different.

As the results slowly materialized in air like it did for Helen, Poppy held up one hand to cover her gaping mouth, "Oh my... Oh my!"

"Poppy?" Dumbledore urged gently.

The bundled up witch slowly stared at the tall man, "He isn't lying... I do not de-detect any life signs from him. All my spells are incapable of probing him; they instead show him as a crystallization of pure magic." Poppy replied shakily.

Olympe nodded again, "Then we have our answer."

Dumbledore nodded reluctantly, "As this was obviously a casting of magic, be it an accidental one, it is an incredible feat of magic, therefore we will award Miss Potter 39 points despite failing to retrieve her egg on her own. However, from this point onwards, Mr. um...?"

The raven haired man smirked, "Hawke."

"Mr. Hawke will not be allowed to participate actively in any of the tasks."

Helen glanced up at her self-proclaimed guardian, expecting outrage on his part at that decision, but was surprised to see a mirthful look in his dancing green eyes.

Dumbledore similarly tried not to look like he had swallowed something sour, he had the itchy feeling on the nape of his neck, an unusually accurate itch that had saved his bony arse countless of times since it usually meant he was walking into a trap. Unfortunately, he couldn't see any way out of a trap he didn't understand the point off.

"Eh um... after that unpleasantness, I guess it's my turn?" Ludo Bagman timidly spoke up for the first time since he had entered the tent. Seeing the old wizard give him a nod, Ludo seemingly regained some of his vigour and began to bounce on the balls of his feet again, "Right, now that you have that egg, it's my job to tell you that the egg," Ludo gave the egg tightly held in Helen's grip a significant glance, "Is the clue for the second task that shall be held on the 24th of February."

Helen breathed a small sigh of relief, there was time. Plenty of time till she was forced to face another near impossible task, alone this time but judging by that earlier smirk, Hawke had a plan of some sort.

When everybody had trooped their way out of the tent save the enigmatic man, Professor Dumbledore and Helen, the elderly wizard spoke again, "I'll have to ask you to come with me, Mr. Hawke. We will have to find you proper accommodations for the length of your... stay here."

"Oh that won't be necessary."

"And why is that?" Dumbledore gently probed.

"Wherever my Master goes, I go."

"I'm afraid I cannot abide by that, Mr. Hawke. You understand that it would disrupt classes don't you?"

"So be it."

"I cannot accept that Mr. Hawke. You don't want to be forcibly separated from Helen do you? I'm sure an... entity like you would be of intense interest to the Ministry of Magic."

Hawke simply smiled again, "You misunderstand me. We cannot be separated. In any contract, there has to be cost and consideration. She gains my loyalty and an absolute Servant that will help her achieve her goal, in return, in order to maintain my presence in this world; I draw my energy from her. Forcibly removing me without our agreement will constitute a breach of the contract, activating the punishment clause whereupon the energy drawn will exponentially increase until she dies. And when she does, so will I. On a side note, failing to achieve that goal will also result in our termination."

Helen paled dramatically at the words that had just been uttered by her Servant.

Termination?

She survived her death from the maw of a dragon just to be met with the possibility of an even more absolute death?

While Helen was busy thinking about the ramifications of her breaking the contract, Dumbledore bristled, "That is not possible! She is under my charge. She cannot be entered into any contract without my permission as her legal guardian!"

The moment those words spilled out of his mouth, Dumbledore's eyes widened, realizing that he had just been trapped as the armoured man grinned coldly.

"All contracts?"

He glanced downwards at his Master who apparently wasn't paying any attention to their discussion and winked at the elderly wizard.

The implications of his words did not escape Dumbledore but like a vicious cat toying with his food, Hawke jerked the bait back before his Master understood it, "Besides it doesn't really matter. When she finalized that contract, it cannot be annulled until the end result is obtained."

Dumbledore quietly stormed out of the tent, furiously thinking about another way of separating Hawke from Helen without losing her in the process. He was absolutely sure that having a summoned entity like that Hawke around Helena Potter where he could easily influence her was not safe.

And everyone knew that Summoning was a Dark Art. The fact that despite Hawke's self proclaimed allegiance to Helen Potter; he obviously had his own goals that were independent of the good of the Potter heiress much less the Greater Good, only strengthened that particular opinion in Dumbledore's mind.

******Blessed Curse******

The last two individuals who remained in the tent silently waited for a reaction from the other, an awkward tension that had not existed earlier hung in the air between them.

Even the raven stayed as still as possible.

"Helennn! I was so worried!" a brown blur screeched as it raced through the flaps and threw itself around Helen's neck with all the force of a rampaging rhino. The raven haired girl who was still mid shock was immediately thrown off balance, causing both her and the brown bush on top of her to fall off the chair and land on the ground with a muted, "Oof".

"Mi-Mione?"

"Uwaaa! I WAS SO WORRIED! YOU WERE ABOUT TO BE EATEN AND I COULDNT DO ANYTHING!"

As Helen awkwardly patted the incoherently sobbing Hermione's back who was clinging to her like a limpet, she helplessly looked upwards at the Counter Guardian to ask for his help, only to find him doing everything he could to avoid grinning at the mess of flesh on the floor.

The raven was sniggering.

Helen made a mental note to find out what fried raven tasted like.

"Mione? I'm ok! It's alright, I got out fine. I'm still in one piece." She stretched her arms as if to show the sobbing girl the truth of her words, "See? I even got that egg."

The bushy haired girl gave a watery chuckle at Helen's attempt at humour and sniffed a few more times before allowing her tears to stop when she finally noticed the man who had not moved from his position. Only the small smile playing on his lips told Hermione that he wasn't a statue.

Hermione shakily stood up and walked over to Hawke, ignoring the oddity of the man's existence, "I don't know who you are, but thank you... Thank you for saving my best friend."

Hawke simply nodded without a word while the raven began preening again.

Before Hermione could continue, a tall lanky boy with flaming red hair hesitantly stepped in before coming to a stop with wide eyes as everyone in the tent gave him their full attention.

Fidgeting at the strange sight of Hermione in a half bow facing the man in wicked looking armour and a crumpled up Helen on the floor, he opened and closed his mouth soundlessly a few times. His nervousness was only amplified even more by the stoic statue and his intimidating raven standing in a corner and the fact that the attention had not slackened.

Swallowing once, Ronald Weasley tried again, "Uh... Helen? Can I err... speak to you?"

Helen slowly nodded blankly.

"Like... outside? In private."

The raven haired girl simply stared at him before slowly looking up at her guardian.

Said guardian simply blinked at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"Whatever you have to say, can be said here. I trust everyone in this tent." Helen declared shakily.

It wasn't exactly true. She didn't trust that raven.

Ron slowly burnt his famous Weasley red, though she was not sure whether it was from anger, embarrassment or some other unknown emotion. After a visibly tense period, Ron nodded, "Lo-look, I know I was an arse. I-I just wanted to apologize. You were... right. After seeing that dragon, no one in their right mind would join this Tournament. I'm sorry..."

Almost instinctively Helen was tempted to blast Ron straight out of the tent again with the business end of her wand. After week upon week of being a complete arse towards her, he was apologizing now?

Because she had nearly been eaten?!

A shuffle of feet from beside her told her that Hermione was doing her best to look away, not wanting to influence Helen's decision, although she knew that Hermione desperately wanted their Golden Trio to get back together.

Looking slightly towards the left, she found two emerald eyes staring at her intensely, again with that judging glint in them; awaiting her decision neutrally.

Correctly guessing that Hawke was not going to be off any help, Helen took a few deep breaths, "Just don't do it again Ron."

A wide grin noticeably brightened Ron's freckled face and he rushed over to hug Helen.

The only thing that stopped him was an armoured foot, followed by an armoured chest and a deceptively easy smile topped by emerald eyes that moved between him and his target.

"The Master has had a long day. She already has had someone tackle her, so why don't we let her get cleaned up and have some rest before the next one eh?" Off to the side, Hermione blushed.

Ron tilted his head in confusion and suspicion, "Wh-who are you?"

"Her Servant." Hawke flatly replied with a jerk of his thumb at the girl on the floor.

"Servant? You mean like a House Elf?"

Hawke decided he wasn't in the mood, "Something like that. Only a bit better looking I'd say. Now please leave."

******Blessed Curse******

**Play Secrets – One Republic**

Helen threw herself onto her bed with a groan of relief, utterly thankful that the day was over. Shortly after finally getting cleaned up, she and Hermione had met up with a sulking Ron at the Hall for dinner and some quiet conversation between the three of them.

Or rather between her and Hermione while Ron tried to eat the table.

Making things worse, of course, was the silent shadow that stood behind her at all times. The only good thing Helen could say about his presence was the fact that the students in the hall were more preoccupied with talking about the intimidating stranger rather than her. Though she did notice a funny thing had happened.

Midway through dinner, Hawke who had been gazing about with that nostalgic look on his face again had apparently made eye contact with a certain Potions Professor.

She had never seen a look of such utter rage and hatred in her life before and it had truly scared her.

Turning around on her bed, she blinked upwards at a corner where the guardian had apparently picked as a resting spot for himself, "Wait! You're actually staying in my room?!" Helen spluttered incredulously, she had been completely unaware that the man had even followed her up to the female dorms, "How did you even get up those stairs?!"

Hawke gave her an easy smile as he looked around the small and sparse room, "Magic."

"Get out!"

"Ehh... No."

Needless to say, as the argument devolved into Helen cursing and threatening him and him giving the same bland cheeky No, he didn't budge from the corner at all.

"We're lucky the girls get their own rooms." Helen muttered sulkily, "I don't want to know what Hermione would've said if she knew you were staying with a bunch of nubile females."

"Sorry. Not into flat chested kids."

"WHAT?!"

Hawke let out a chuckle at Helen's over the top reaction and waved a hand at her to show that he was joking, well not entirely; he really wasn't into underage kids.

Especially not this one.

As the argument spluttered out and the room became quiet again, Helen debated whether or not to ask the question that had been on her mind ever since dinner, "Why did Snape look like he wanted to kill you? He treats me pretty badly but even I've never seen him that mad. I mean, you're not even human right? So how does he know you enough to hate you that much?"

Emerald green eyes closed slowly as Hawke gave a tired sigh. With his eyes still closed his gauntleted arm slowly rose to point at a small framed picture on Helen's bedside table.

"Huh? What does that have to do with you and Snape?"

"Look at it."

Blinking at the curt reply, Helena picked up the picture that she had received from Hagrid at the end of her first year. The picture of her parents on their wedding day. In the picture, a woman dressed in an elegant bridal gown, accentuated by her elegant red hair and bright green eyes glowing with happiness, snuggled up into the arms of a lean man dressed in a suit. Messy black hair and brown eyes that were equally glowing waved at the person taking the picture.

Helen blinked.

Then she blinked again and shot out of bed, "You're my father!?"

Emerald eyes slowly opened to quirk an amused eyebrow at her.

"Oh right. Wrong eyes. Then... why do you look so much like him? Like... dad..." Helen winced as the strange and unfamiliar word rolled off her tongue.

Hawke averted his eyes and softly spoke in a casual tone, "I was created in the image of whatever you were most comfortable with to improve our efficiency as a team."

"I see..." Helen gently laid back on her bed and hid underneath the covers, desperate not to show him the few drops of unshed tears in her eyes. Even if it wasn't true, for just an instant, she had found herself wishing for him to be James Potter. He was a spirit wasn't he? So she reasoned to herself that it hadn't been too farfetched a thought.

After everything she had been through, she thought she deserved a break.

Hawke carefully pretended not to hear her quietly sobbing or the trembling bed covers as he dimmed the room's light with a sharp and precise wave of his blade staff.

In the darkness, he sadly reached into the moke-skin pouch that was hidden underneath his chestplace and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and slowly unfolded it to reveal an exact copy of the picture that Helen had carelessly dropped back on to the bed side table.

As the sounds of the night slowly embedded itself in the dark room and Helen's sniffles evened out, she shuffled uncomfortably in her bed. Just the awareness of the man's presence in the room made it hard for her to sleep, compounded by embarrassment of the fact that she had almost mistaken him for her father like Snape probably had.

"Hawke?" she softly asked.

"Yes, Master?"

"Earlier... in the tent... you said we would die together. It was a lie wasn't it?" without looking at his corner, Helen questioned him quietly from under her covers.

"... The best kinds of lies are the ones that are true."

"Then we'll die?"

"Only if you give up."

"Why are you really here?"

"...You summoned me."

Helen gripped the soft downy covers tightly, "I don't want to die... What is this goal we have to achieve?"

She heard a soft chuckle in reply, "Sleep Master. There is time for morbid discussions tomorrow."

Turning around in her bed, she peeked out at him from underneath a gap in her covers.

Emerald eyes met emerald eyes.

"Then let's do our best as a team. It's nice to meet you, I'm Helena Potter. You can call me Helen." She softly reintroduced herself.

A bright spark lit in her counterpart's emerald eyes and for some reason, Helen felt like the tall enigmatic man had finally judged her worthy.

"I am Hawke. The Embodiment of Balance."

******Blessed Curse******

**Author's Note**

**Counter Guardian Hawke - Caster **

**Alignment: True Neutral**

Strength : D

Endurance : D+

Agility : C

Magical Energy : B++

Luck : F

**Class Skill : **

Independence: C

Territory Creation: B

**Personal Skills : **

Eye of the Mind (True): B

Martyr's Determination: B+

Vitrification: D

Animal Dialogue: D

******Blessed Curse******

I've gained a new appreciation for Harry Potter fanfics.

-.-

It's kinda hard to write for one when it's mostly dialogue and stuff, not much action... or at least not much that I can actually write out.

o.o


	3. Remember this Fear

**Blessed Curse Chapter 3**

**Remember this Fear**

**Disclaimer : I do Not own Harry Potter. He and whatever affiliated material is owned by J.K Rowling. Standard Nasu-verse disclaimer applies as well. In other words, anything goes, getting confused by the rules is a given.**

**Yes, yes, assignment handed in. Decided to work on this chapter before crashing in bed for the next two days. Speaking of which, I really enjoyed writing this chapter. **

******Blessed Curse******

"Good morning Master." A calm, stolid baritone voice slowly penetrated the hazy veil of Helen's sleep as a finger repeatedly poked her side with a sadistic pleasure, "It is already 7.30 am. I believe your classes start in an hour."

The mound on the bed stirred slightly at her servant's insistent poking, "Unnyuuu... Just a bit longer..."

When the door flew open with a bang, and an excitable voice, this one she recognized as belonging to Hermione, interjecting itself between them with a screech as her housemate hurled herself onto Helen's bed, she knew beyond any doubt that whatever hope she had left of sleeping late was dashed like so much glass on rocks, "I'm awake... I'm awake, Mione." She groaned, trying to stop Hermione from crushing her in a bear hug. One green eye darted over to where her servant was simply watching her with a grin, begging for help with one outstretched arm as she slowly suffocated under Hermione's affectionate embrace.

"50 minutes left." Hawke added rather unnecessarily with a small grin and shining eyes, "I'll be waiting outside, while you ladies... ahem, take your time."

20 minutes later, a rather disgruntled Helen found herself walking down the stairs from the Gryffindor girl's dormitory with a rather apologetic Hermione and a grinning Hawke, "If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that you enjoy watching me suffer." She groused at her Servant.

"My... what a thing to insinuate; I was simply allowing you and Lady Hermione to enjoy your time alone." Hawke replied, his cane rhythmically tapping on the stairs.

"Then at least stop grinning like an idiot." She rebuffed him curtly, spinning around she gestured at him, "Besides, are you really planning on following me dressed like that the whole day?"

Hawke quirked his lips as he glanced downwards at his sharp black butler's suit, save for his left arm which was still encased in its steel armour, engraved runes barely visible against the dark alloy, "Would you prefer i follow you around in full armour? That can be easily arranged." he lifted his arm and started incanting when his master jumped on him, slapping her hands to his mouth, causing both of them to almost stumble off the stairs, "No! Just.. No!"

"Calm down, Master!" Hawke chided the young girl as he wrapped one arm around her tiny waist to stable both of them with the use of his cane.

"So-sorry.."

"It is fine. Just try not to do this on the stairs."

Whatever Helen was about to say was lost when Hermione decided to interject, sounding distinctly amused, "You know... if you want some privacy... I can leave~"

Helen shoved herself away from her Servant and immediately backpedalled, "No, no! That's fine; it-it's just... I was stopping him from using his armour!"

Hermione's smirk widened just a little bit.

"Gah! It's so embarrassing!"

Hawke decided not to mention how funny he found her over exaggerated expressions were while she was suffering.

Hermione giggled as she eyed the butler up and down, causing him to fidget uncomfortably at the surprisingly straightforward girl, "It's alright isn't it? You basically have your own eye candy following you around Hogwarts, and he already more or less declared himself as yours... nothing wrong about taking advantage of it~"

"Mione! Th-that's so... vulgar!"

The girl in question laughed again and wound her arm around Helen's, dragging her down the stairs towards the great doors, "True though. It's only been a day, but I hear his already getting a fan club to rival Cedric's." She glanced at her watch and gasped a decidedly fake gasp, "Never mind that, we're not going to have time for breakfast if you keep drooling over your new Servant."

"I was NOT drooling!" Helen protested, uselessly, as her enthusiastic friend dragged her towards breakfast.

Hawke simply rearranged his expression into a more neutral one and followed them through the door at the bottom of the Main Hall, half of him wondering if the reason Hermione was so carefree in this particular verse was because she had Helen to confide whereas the one in his home dimension only had him and a certain red head to lean on. It certainly would explain why the supposedly bookish girl was so confident and outgoing compared to the one he had once known.

Carefully, he took his place behind Helen at the breakfast table, with his back to a wall, as he planned out his strategy for the coming days, enduring the giggles and stares that were burning his front.

Oh right... today's last class was Potions wasn't it?

It was going to be an absolutely wonderful day, Hawke spontaneously decided with a carefully hidden, frigidly cold grin that was directed at a certain hook nosed Potions Master. He might have had a task to do but nothing said he couldn't enjoy himself doing it by taking a little detour here and there. Especially not if it came at a certain Potions Master or Headmaster's expense.

"Hawke... can you stop giggling like that behind me? It's a little disturbing while I'm trying to eat..."

"Ah..."

******Blessed Curse******

"Be silent. 10 points from Gryffindor for not being ready, Weasley." An already quiet class became quieter than a funeral's wake.

There really wasn't any need for that, Hawke mused, most students already knew that going into Snape's class while talking was suicidally stupid unless they were Slytherins or really just that dumb. Case in point, he glanced at the aforementioned red head that stood slightly to his left and front, and who was arguing with the hook nosed professor.

"But Malfoy doesn't even have his book out yet!"over on the other side of a dungeon, a smirking boy with thin platinum blonde hair softly patted his empty desk, obviously riling the red head up even further.

The tall, sallow man slowly stalked over to the red head's table, their table, positioned at the very back of the class, towering over him with all the likeness of a weirdo dressed in a bat suit, "Are you arguing with me Weasley? 10 points and detention for the rest of the week."

Then again, Snape was probably being particularly spiteful due to his very presence. Not that he really needed help doing that anyway.

Hissing at the dense Weasley, Hermione tugged at his robes and forced him to sit down quietly with a nice elbow nudge. Stoically standing behind the Gryffindor Trio, he could already guess that Ronald Weasley was going to have some problems breathing for the next few minutes. Which was probably the point, come to think of it.

Jet black eyes, as sharp as cut obsidian slowly panned over the trio until they met solid emerald, these ones far colder and solid then the ones he was accustomed too. It frankly unnerved him to see how familiar the fire that burned in them were, especially when tinged with his favourite colour, "Ah yes... the _Servant _was it?"

Hawke sketched a polite bow and a smile that could be no sweeter, "It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Snape. I have heard absolutely _wondrous _stories about your prowess at Potions," Snape blinked at the flattery, "And your equally spectacular failure at passing down that skill."

If glares could kill, Hawke fancied himself so dead that not even the Holy Grail could bring him back as he heard stifled snorts all around the chamber, mostly from the ones in red though.

He spun on the spot, flaring out his cloak dramatically, "Silence!"

"Nice cloak."

More giggles.

Once the entire class looked suitably chastised by another even more intense glare, he spun back to glare at the Servant, "I am sure that these... stories must come from a pathetically stupid lot that do not understand my class." The way he glanced at Helen and her friends left no doubt about whom the lot he had in mind was.

Hawke smiled sweetly, "Of course. It's so hard for the stupid to understand the smart isn't it? But don't mind me, you have a class to teach don't you? You shouldn't waste your time dilly dallying over lil' old me."

Helen let out a near inaudible sigh of relief as the Potions Professor gave her attendant one last glare before stalking all the way back to the front of the class and slamming the board, allowing writing to magically fade into existence on its surface, "Today we shall be continuing where we left off; identifying common components of most poisons and their counters. Instructions are on the board."

As the class started rushing to grab ingredients, Hawke immediately noticed the Potions Professor zooming back on him from across the class, hiding his hands behind his back, he plastered an absolutely fake smile on his face and bowed again.

"So tell me, you are a _Servant_? Someone like you must have a lot of experience with poisons do you not?" Black eyes rove up and down Hawke's slender form with a silky sneer, "Especially since, I doubt you have any other use other than being a man whore."

Hawke nearly rolled his eyes; one would think defeating an adult dragon in front of a crowd would at least give him a hint about his abilities outside of the bed, "My... I wouldn't presume... but yes. I do have _some _experience with poisons. I am sure you found them... useful too."

Almost as one, the class froze and took a deep expectant froze as they stopped to watch Hawke versus Snape, the sequel.

"Could you tell me what do you get when you add distilled Erumpent fluid to essence of nightshade?"

Hawke gave him a deadpan look, "Considering they are both largely harmful ingredients, an explosive poison would result, probably something that explodes and harms whatever it touches, if not outright kill. In fact, if you add some stabilizers like Moondew, or Horned Slug's tears, you would get a Potion of Exploding Rot, unimaginative name really."

A triumphant sneer appeared on the Potion's Master's sallow lips as he slowly stalked forward, "One wonders why a... _Servant _like you knows how to concoct something so... dark."

"Common sense mostly, something most magic users seem to lack." Hawke slowly grinned. "Though, I must admit, that I have no idea why they react with each other in that way. My Potions Teacher wasn't very smart. Brave enough to try and cheat Death or bully children, but not very smart."

Snape wasn't entirely sure, but he knew that he had been insulted in some way that he did not understand but before he could call Hawke out on it, simmering cauldrons all around the class, that is to say, mostly on the Slytherin's side of the dungeons, started exploding in a myriad of colourful sparks and noxious fumes, Hawke calmly glanced around the class and gave a helpless smile as he continued to stand in his original spot, casually pointing out the obvious, "It does appear, most of your students seem to share that same weakness. It must be a common failing amongst Potion Masters I guess."

He turned and bowed to Helen who was rooted to the spot, staring at the fireworks with something resembling a fascinating mix of horror and amusement, "Master, it appears that it is not safe here. Please evacuate immediately."

"Stop right there Servant!" Snape hissed as he charged at the tall, raven haired man and grabbed him by the lapels of his suit, bringing both men eye to eye, "This is your fault, I know it is."

Then he did what Hawke had been waiting for the entire class. Snape tried to peek into his thoughts. It was something of a sore spot for the raven haired man, but his grasp on Occlumency was tenuous at best, and non-existent at worse, a result of a rather dismal mentor, so he did what he did best.

Occlumency was a very important skill in the life of a wizard, particularly so if one was privy to a number of important secrets as well as instantaneously giving on the upper hand in a wizard's duel. When one was duelling with a wizard that was proficient in Legilimency, Occlumency was no longer a luxury but a necessity, or the opponent would simply pick every move straight out of the idiot's head before it was made and act accordingly, rendering the duel nothing but a waste of time.

Now this usually applied to most wizard duels, in Hawke's case, having a pronounced preference for melee attacks caused Occlumency to become something of a moot point in his battles.

Basically, the only thing Snape saw in Hawke's thoughts might as well have been pasted on his forehead in neon letters for all the difference it would have made.

'**I. AM. GOING. TO. BREAK. YOUR. FACE. IN.'**

Hawke promptly did exactly what he was currently thinking by driving the heel of his palm straight into Snape's nose with a grotesque cracking sound, the greasy haired man's head snapped backwards before Hawke grabbed his ears and pulled, bringing his head hurtling forward into a devastating head butt and simultaneously dribving his knee into Snape's groin.

"Yuck..." He flicked his hands to get rid of the grease and reminded himself to get a nice long bath later.

Then patting the creases on his lapels down as he let the unconscious Snape fall onto the floor face first, Hawke casually looked around the class and gave a cheeky nod, "Class dismissed."

He made sure to step on the back of Snape's head on the way out.

******Blessed Curse******

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" a rather hysterical Hermione screeched as she clutched her face, nails dragging grooves along the soft white skin of her cheek, "YOU hit, you actually HIT Professor Snape!"

"Bloody awesome!"

Hawke got the impression that his fan club may have received another member.

Helen on the other hand was staring at the wall in catatonia, muttering something along the lines of _'expelled'_, '_doomed' _and _'Wish I did that first.'_

That last one almost caused him to guffaw but he restrained himself with admiral strength of will, choosing to address the frantic brown haired girl as he gently threw a piece of bread he had snitched from the kitchens to one of the Giant Squid's tentacles, "I had a legitimate reason. Mr. Snape attempted to read my mind. That is a legal offence no matter the purity of your blood and I was justified in defending my privacy."

The tentacle slowly wrapped around the puny scrap and waved at him in thanks before pulling it down under the water's surface.

"You! Your stupid slave hurt Severus! I'll get you and that slut expelled for this!" a rather red faced Malfoy demanded angrily as he and his thugs appeared slightly further down the banks, the burn marks, covered with burn salve, on his hands and cheeks indicated that the_ accidental_ explosions might have actually hit at least one of their targets. It also explained why he only showed up one hour after class.

Hawke almost gleefully got up as he revised his earlier opinion; target number 3 and number 4 in one day.

This was going to be an abso-fucking-lutely wonderful day. Then again, that usually meant his terrible luck would come back and bite him in the arse somewhere down the line, but he was determined to enjoy the little details.

Waving the trio aside, Hawke mockingly bowed, "Expelled? I don't understand, what has my Master done to offend you so?"

Malfoy spluttered, "You hit Severus! If that wasn't bad enough, you fought like a barbarian Muggle!"

"Ehh... So?"

He spluttered even more at the offhanded reply while Hawke turned around and waved his metal arm at the three Slytherins, "Behold; a perfect specimen of too much inbreeding, can't even formulate a response to defend its puny honour. Let it be known that boinking your sister might not be such a good idea."

Spinning back to face the Malfoy heir; Hawke bowed again, "Please, don't let me get in the way of your clowning. Go ahead and try to expel me. It's not like you can do anything but splutter, like a worm in the mud. Draco Malfoy is powerless, it's just your father, Lucius Malfoy's power isn't it?" He gave the Slytherin a disdainful look, "You can't even fight a duel without cheating, can you?"

Crossing his fingers behind his back, he slowly counted down from three; he doubted that Malfoy's fragile ego could take much more rapid battering without resorting to violence. Not unless this particular one was wiser than his, but then again...

"A duel! A **DUEL!?** Duel this, _Diffindo_!"

Bingo.

Hawke calmly tapped his cane on the ground with a firm command, "_Terrae_."

A fence of solid, packed earth instantly rose up to chest height, blocking the splash of light that gouged a scar along its front.

Helen immediately backpedalled as the individual she was starting to get familiar with slowly disappeared, fading behind a cold visage and icy emerald eyes.

"Are you sure you want to duel me? You will not survive."

Malfoy growled and gestured his thugs to flank the man calmly standing behind the Earthen wall, "It's not like you can use magic cant you? You had to defeat Severus with Muggle combat after all."

Hawke decided not to point out the fact that he had just summoned a wall of earth with pure elemental magic, or the fact that a whole group of students, just released from Transfiguration had seen the whole thing on their way out for a quick sunbathe before dinner.

"Understood. I accept your challenge. From here on out; only magical combat shall be used."

He could almost hear the triumphant crow inside young Malfoy's mind.

His two lumbering bookends pulled out their wands and simultaneously cast a ribbon of red magic that flayed the air between them as Malfoy started casting his own spell.

Without pausing, he flicked his cane, transforming it into his blade staff and thrust it out, catching the first spell from Goyle with the orb on one end and redirecting it towards the second with an extra burst of magic, simultaneously casting a wandless Accio on Malfoy's robes with his free hand. The first bolt of magic, enhanced with some of his own, clashed and overwhelmed it, exploding with a burst of brilliant sparks directly in a summoned Malfoy's face.

He smiled coldly as memories of being tortured at Goyle and Crabbe's hands as Malfoy gleefully raped a crying Hermione flashed through his mind's eye as the blonde screamed as if his eyes had been burned out, "_Pugillo Terrae_."

A bubble of Earth sprouted out from the ground, slowly encasing the two bookends in earth shaped like fists, slowly squeezing the life out of them.

Glancing at the screaming blonde in disdain, he cast a healing charm at the blonde before encasing him in a bubble of hard packed earth with a quick incantation, crushing him in its grip, "_Pugillo Terrae."_

"If I recall correctly, these two idiots are your only friends aren't they?" A completely cold and ruthless grin slowly tainted his visage, "Congratulations. You get to watch them die **like I did**. _Orchideus_."

Malfoy's wide, pained eyes as he tried to get some oxygen into his creaking chest showed utter confusion at the relatively non harmless spell, at least until he realized his friends were choking and retching terribly.

Everyone watched in horror as flowers and vines started sprouting from their throats and ears.

Malfoy drew one deep breath with all his might and screamed, tears streaming down his cheeks, "STOP! STOP PLEASE! I YIELD! Please..."

Hawke cocked his head with a blank expression, "Yield." He grinned coldly and tightened the grip on them, "What's that?"

Horror dawned on the blonde's haggard face as he realized what was about to happen.

"**HAWKE! STOP, RELEASE THEM! I COMMAND YOU!"**

Pain immediately pierced his temples, bringing the ruthless Servant down to his knees and his rage to a complete stop, struggling to look back at where he had left Helen; he realized that she was clutching her left shoulder in pain, obviously having invoked a Command Spell.

He hadn't even realized she had them.

Gritting his teeth through the pain, he managed to bite out a croak and released his magic's hold on the three, dropping them onto the ground like puppets being cut from their strings, "Yes... Master."

Malfoy crawled forward and tried to shake Goyle's shoulder, checking their orifices to see if the vines had remained, only breathing a sigh of relief when he realized that they were still breathing and alive, despite being unconscious.

In front of him, Helen slowly stepped up towards a Hawke who was still kneeling in pain.

"What was that?" She asked, coldly, fiercely, almost a mirror image of how Hawke had looked barely moments ago.

"It was duel. They requested it, they must pay the price." He gritted out an answer.

Helen slapped him across the face, "I don't care if they started it, or if they asked for it. Never kill anyone in front of me again."

The Servant let his head fall, feeling cool Earth touch his forehead, as she ran away from him, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Yes. Master." He softly whispered and slowly stood up. One glare from him sent the terrified students scurrying away from him into the castle, no doubt to spread the gossip.

"Tsk. Just my luck."

Clutching his torso until the dull throb of a burning knife slowly faded, the Servant stalked and limped his way towards a terrified Malfoy with the help of his staff. Towering over the blonde, he lifted his staff above his head in a two fisted grip.

"Wha-what are you doing?! He-Helen told you not to KILL ANYONE!" He screamed hysterically as the blade's edge glinted in the evening light above his head, embodying a sharpness that he could not and did not dare to even imagine.

Hawke brought it down violently, driving the blade deep into Gaia's embrace with one move.

A small drop of blood from the cut on Malfoy's chin slowly leaked its way, following the law of gravity.

He lowered his face until he and Malfoy were face to face, "Be thankful worm. You were only spared today because of my Master. If I was not stopped, you would be dead, Draco Malfoy would cease to exist, and there would be **nothing** Lucius Malfoy could have done to bring you back." He growled lowly.

"Remember this fear, worm. Remember it when you face Voldemort and then ask yourself, who do you fear more, Snake Face, or **me.** Then remember and realize that I WILL come for you and nothing, **NOTHING**, in Heaven or Hell will stop me the next time." Painfully, he got up and started to limp away, pausing only to throw the boy one last sentence, "Your life belongs to Helen Potter now. Be thankful."

******Blessed Curse******

**Author's Note : I declare myself, King of Mood Whiplashes. Joking. Lol.  
**


	4. Greatest Creation

**Blessed Curse Chapter 4**

**Greatest Creation**

**Disclaimer : I do Not own Harry Potter. He and whatever affiliated material is owned by J.K Rowling. Standard Nasu-verse disclaimer applies as well. In other words, anything goes, getting confused by the rules is a given.**

Feels like a strangely long time since we updated hasn't it? At any rate, special double update for our birthday. Come to think of it, we did something like this last year didn't we? Heh. Don't expect anything for a long time because of how busy we've been. Two jobs on top of studying isn't easy. Go to class, go to work…. And come home to crash.

**Soundtrack List **

One Republic - Secrets

EMIYA

******Blessed Curse******

**Play One Republic - Secrets**

Within minutes, Helene ran up the stairs to the Gryffindor's dormitory, far faster than she ever remembered climbing them and threw the doors open, cheeks flushed and heart beating rapidly in her little chest, before throwing herself onto her plain bed. That, arguably a fairly bad idea due to the fact that there was already someone else occupying her bed and the raven squawked indignantly as it struggled to get out from under her bed.

"Oh my, I-I'm so sorry!" Wavy hair flicked wildly as the red eyed girl tried to pacify the distinctly upset bird, "I didn't see you there!"

The raven, which was somewhat larger than she had expected merely gave her a disgruntled look through beady green eyes before perching itself on one of the bed posts.

Feeling better that she had not injured the bird with her weight, Helen sighed softly and pulled her knees up before burying her face in them. She wasn't going to cry, no she wasn't. She had learnt long ago from Dursleys that tears helped nothing. Crying was not going to make her taller so that she could cook Vernon's breakfast at the age of 5 and it certainly was not going to help her solve this problem.

The problem in question being her unruly servant.

She was not scared of him per se, alright, maybe just a little. The green eyed girl was upset, angry and more than a little confused at everything. When she had seen the terrible glint of fury and hatred in her self-proclaimed Guardian's eyes, a trickle of that very same fury and hatred had welled in her chest. For a moment, she had almost assaulted Malfoy herself.

A twinge of pain from her shoulder reminded her of her newest piece of the puzzle. An ornate tattoo had somehow carved itself on her left shoulder without her knowing. Only the searing pain as part of the ornate tattoo disappeared while Hawke was busy humiliating Malfoy afforded her that knowledge.

Gently, she rolled up her sleeves and laid a finger on the tattoo. The moment she did so, she felt a strange awareness come onto her. Without knowing how, or why, she knew that Hawke was currently stationed outside her door, far more content to stand sentry rather that make any move to explain his actions.

She held herself tighter again as she felt more confused than ever and wallowed until she noticed a slight movement at the edge of her periphery. The raven, this one a noticeably different one from the one she had seen with Hawke and significantly less noble looking was staring at her with what seemed like disdain. Feeling that moping to herself wasn't helping, the black haired girl gingerly edged over to the bird and hesitantly held her hand out to the obviously magical creature, afraid that it would peck holes in her hand.

It looked at her incredulously and clicked its beak before shuffling further away.

"Oh.. I'm sorry." Helen stalled as she tried to dig around in her memories to see if there was anything she had learnt about approaching an obviously magical raven. Unlike the glossy, noble looking one she first encountered in the tent with Hawke, this one looked as if it had ended up on the wrong end of quite a few arrows and its feathers were noticeably more dirty, "Should…. Should I bow to you like a hippogryph or something?"

"Ah. The lady doth finally honor me with her consecrations. I am surprised, I did not think thine low birth would affordst thou the pleasantries of men."

She did not scream. She simply squeaked at a far higher volume than a squeak would normally be.

That same squeak led directly to her self-proclaimed Guardian gloriously opening the door to her room in the form of him introducing his boot to said door and rushing in, staff blade at the ready until he noticed the source of Helen's distress. He gave the raven, which was currently attempting to look innocent, a dry look.

"He-He-The bird spoke!"

"I am not just a bird, you nit wit. Where are thine manners?!"

Sighing to himself, the man in the butler suit jabbed the crystal end of his staff at the bird, "Silencio."

The raven flapped its wings furiously as its beak opened and closed soundlessly.

"Ignore him." Hawke said shortly, "He has this tendency to provoke anybody within hearing range."

"O-Oh… I- I was just a little surprised," The small girl managed to gasp out amidst her attempts at regaining her breath, "Wh-Why didn't you tell me he could speak?"

"There was no reason to." The tall man replied simply, "Incidentally the other one can speak as well. He just doesn't like to."

"Oh… I was just surprised that he…. speaks weirdly…" the girl ended lamely.

"He's perfectly capable of speaking normally. He just likes doing that because he knows how much people hate it." The man with the armored left hand noted dryly, "Which is precisely why you should just ignore him."

"Oh…" And that was all the little lady said as the two of them fell silent, Hawke standing there with a supremely calm fashion as if he was not in the most awkward meeting of the century.

"Why did you do it?" Helen finally enunciated until the silence became unbearable.

"I presume you mean Malfoy's lesson?" Hawke inquired rather calmly as he cast a simple repair spell at the ruined door.

"Not just that! You even attacked SNAPE of all people!" Helen cried with despair, prompting the youthful looking man to simply shrug, "They insulted you."

"You don't try to _kill _people if they insulted your friend! You looked like you _hated _him." Helen stressed the kill part with a glare, "Wait, they? Snape's a little unpleasant but he didn't insult me!"

"Oh he did." Hawke smiled sweetly, "You just didn't notice. As far as my dislike of Malfoy goes, it was simply a bonus as far as I'm concerned. That aside, why aren't _you _upset, Master?"

"I'm…. I'm upset, but I can handle it. I'm used to it! Both of them may be complete prats, but that doesn't mean you can _kill_ them!"

"Truly?" The man's smile failed to reach his eyes, "You are used to it? You speak as if this is a common occurrence, and yet not a single teacher has seen fit to curb they're disgusting habits? It looks like my first impression of this institute of _education _when I was first summoned here was not too far off the mark."

"Which first impression? The part about how this place looks like a circus run by fools or the part about Miss A-cup over there needing more food?" The raven, which had seemingly regained his voice, squawked out loudly and somehow managed to rearrange its features in order to look absolutely gleeful.

Helen flushed and shielded herself from the man's eyes with a pillow as Hawke silenced the bird again. This time, he added small stunner to it, sending the unconscious bird crashing off her bed post.

The way the raven had managed to dodge the first silencer before getting stunned somehow managed to feel so fluid and familiar that Helen knew with absolute certainty that this was not the first time her Servant had done so.

"Ho-how could you _dislike _him?" the short girl spluttered indignantly, determinedly ignoring the raven's little comment about her size, "You've never even met him!"

"That, my Master, is a secret for another time," He cocked his head as if he could hear something she could not, feeling somewhat grateful on the inside at the same time.

"What? What are you talking about?" The girl replied incredulously, "You're not getting away! How am I supposed to trust you if you evade my-"

The door flew open and shattered against the wall for the second time that day as a somewhat upset Severus Snape stalked into the room, large black cloak fluttering in non-existent wind, his large nostrils were flaring noticeably with each breath and his pale cheeks were flushed with anger. Seeing the man stand there with absolute ease as if someone came crashing through his door every day, Snape raised one hand to point at him with one crooked finger and snarled, "You…"

"I'm surprised you woke up already." Hawke noted dryly before adding, "I thought you would have been unconscious for at least a day. Congratulations."

Almost reflexively, Snape flinched away from the man before regaining his domineering scowl, "As much as I would like to reward you for your insolence, the Headmaster demands your presence in his office for assaulting three defenseless children."

Hawke turned around, ignoring the man's ugly scowl and bowed elaborately, "I do believe I'm being summoned to your Headmaster's office for a reprimand. We shall continue our discussion when such a time allows."

Helen was about to retort when Snape sent her a glare so vicious it chilled her blood and hissed lowly, "Be quiet fool." His gaze returned to the man standing protectively beside her, "You are not continuing **anything** with this barbarian if I have my way."

"The same way you fondle that cauldron of yours?"

That raven was surprisingly durable.

"Good luck Hawke. Remember to use lotion. If you can't find any just touch the pervert's head."

Either that or it was stupid, then again it did seem like it had taken far more than arrows, it wouldn't surprise her to know that someone had bashed its head in with a rock some time ago.

Cue another stunner and silencio.

One silent squawk and crash later, Hawke adjusted his butler's vest and smiled politely, "Shall we be going any time soon? I really rather not stay with you any longer than necessary."

As the two men left her room after her Servant had repaired the door once more, Helen sighed softly and threw herself back onto her bed, feeling far more confused than she had when she first entered her room when she heard the sound of wings gently gliding on the wind.

One green eye opened warily to see the other raven glide into her room through the window before perching on her dresser, observing her and his companion with beady green eyes, this one looking significantly more respectable and lacked the same scars his friend apparently had, complete with well groomed, glossy feathers.

Feeling a little stupid, Helen returned the look with a daring glare.

Surprising her, the large bird seemed to nod approvingly and glided down to her side before settling there comfortably. Showing the same hesitation she did beforehand, the black haired girl gently reached for the bird before running her fingers down his glossy feathers, prompting the raven to shiver and nudge at her hand.

Helen laughed softly, "Good raven, you like that don't you?"

"He's not a raven. He's a crow, can't you even tell the difference you dumb girl?"

Annnd there he was again.

Not having her wand with her at the moment, Helen decided on the next best course of action.

She threw her pillow at him, "Be quiet unless you want me to hit you with my broom!"

"Miserable little…." A muffled reply came from somewhere under the bed.

"I'm sorry, you said something?"

When the raven didn't reply, Helen sighed and returned to caressing the far more polite of the two birds until she heard a knock on her door.

"… I'm not feeling well…" Helen called out wanly.

A head of bushy brown hair poked through the door to grin at her, "Helena Lily Potter. You've always been a terrible liar." She opened the door and stepped in before holding up a golden egg, "Why don't we do something about this to keep your mind occupied? You always think better while you're on your feet so to speak."

Helen smiled weakly, "Thanks, Mione. You're the best."

"I know I am."

Helen sat up slowly and paused for a slow second before opening her mouth tentatively, "Hey, Mione? Can I ask you a question?"

"Mmph? What is it?" The buck toothed girl replied absent mindedly.

"I've never really stood out at school much…. But let's say someone at your school keeps badmouthing you…. Is it… bad?"

The girl holding the Golden Egg stared at her as if she was stupid.

******Blessed Curse******

**Play - EMIYA**

Jet black eyes glinted as they surveyed the tall man striding along the halls confidently and narrowed a little at the man's complete lack of nerves. Something that irritated him greatly.

"Are you worried? By tonight, you will be gone from this castle, and nothing you do or say can change that fact. Your little whining fool of Master will be all alone." Snape exulted, quiet enough for just the man a few paces in front of him to hear.

"Not particularly." The raven haired man replied dismissively as he brushed his hair back with a careless flick, "Incidentally, please do not speak to me."

Snape blinked, rarely had anyone insulted him so overtly, even more so with the power he held within Hogwarts and this was a refreshing if galling change.

"How Gryffindor... yet somehow fitting considering who your untalented Master us. Let me spell it out for you since I dont think you understand your situation here." The potions Master uttered silkily, "You have no power, no cards to hold. You would stand to be a little more humble towards your betters."

Hawke merely sighed, "And you, my dear potions master, seem to have a hearing problem. I will not say this again. Please do not speak to me. My skin crawls just looking at you and I really rather not hear you as well since I have little patience for cowards."

"DO NOT CALL ME COW-"

Hawke stopped and spun around abruptly as he broke Snape's nose with his gauntlet for the second time that day. He glanced at the crumpled piled of black robes dismissively before gingerly grabbing the man's collar with a shrug, "I did tell you not to speak. Must you be so disobedient?"

Offhandedly, he pulled out a tiny notebook and made a record before gently laying a finger on the cold stone that composed one of Hogwarts' impressive walls. Heaving a deep breath in and out, Hawke spoke softly, "Old friend. I know I may seem a little strange, but would you please grant me a shorter route to the Headmaster's office?"

He felt something brush against his consciousness hesitantly before he heard the responding groan of stone as a gaping black portal slowly opened out of the wall directly in front of him. Hawke bowed lightly, "Thank you, I will repay this favor when I can."

Lightly leaping up the steps two at a time without any care for the bouncing body behind him, the black haired man soon exited through the other end of the dark but dry tunnel, appearing right outside the door to the Headmaster's office at the top of the spiraling stair case. He was about to knock on the door when the old man's voice echoed in the empty corridor.

Smiling briefly at the uncertain tone in the man's orders, Hawke pushed open the door and stepped inside before dropping Snape like a sack of bricks. Wearing a polite smile the entire time, Hawke seated himself in one of the short but comfy cushions and folded his arms, ignoring the incredulous stare the entire time.

"May I know what happened to Professor Snape?" Dumbledore inquired carefully, wand already at the ready under the table.

"He was feeling a little unwell." The black haired man answered with a bland smile, "Being a gentleman, I decided to give him some help to catch up on his sleep."

Dumbledore glanced at Snape's clearly broken, bleeding nose, "I am aware that this is not the first time that you have attacked Professor Snape. We've already been generous enough to allow you to stay here despite our doubts," The old man began with a disappointed air, "Must you keep reinforcing those doubts with your assaults on innocent children and a prominent, respected colleague?"

"I was simply defending my Master's honor. Unlike your appalingly biased colleageues, everything I do will always be in my Master's best interest." Hawke folded his legs without a care in the world and offered no further elaboration.

"But you must see how this has affected do you not?" The old man picked up a lemon sherbet and silently offered it to Hawke who politely declined it with a gesture, "How can you say that this is in her best interests?"

"I know what is best for her." The black haired man who resembled James Potter to a fearsome degree simply smiled in satisfaction at the old man's minute twitch, "Allowing her honor to be besmirched and her mind invaded, in school grounds no less, are not within my job description. If anything, I suggest you tighten your leash on your subordinates and charges before something more…. _Unpleasant _happens."

"I'm not sure what you are implying. Professor Snape has my utmost trust; he would never invade a student's mind without provocation." Dumbledore hastily declared, "He has done his job admirably for the past 20 years!"

"Then he must be a man with very little self-control to invade the minds of everyone who defies him." Hawke observed with a cool disdain as he turned the debate around, "Which brings up the question of why you would allow this treachery to go unchecked. The other alternative, which implies your implicit agreement, or even ignorance, would of course be unthinkable no?"

Dumbledore blinked slowly as he silently popped another sherbet into his mouth, "Do you have proof that he invaded Helen's mind? It's not possible to know this, so I must conclude that you are simply trying to throw mud on the Professor's good name."

"In most cases, you would certainly be right." Hawke agreed, feeling a little edgy at the victorious glint in the old man's eyes, "There is no sure way for me to prove his treachery. But I'm sure that if you could find an experienced Legilimancer to check her mind, you would find traces of his presence in almost every child in this place you call a school."

The man leaned back into his chair, projecting the air of a wise teacher as he pursed his lips, "I find myself rather curious, for a supposed elemental that was abruptly summoned with any preparations, you have a disturbing amount of in depth knowledge about our culture. Legilimency and its counterpart Occlumency are not very well known subjects in this day and age."

Hawke smiled faintly as Dumbledore dodged the question, "I read, Headmaster. As an elemental, I have no need for sleep and I find myself with much time to occupy myself with while Helen rests."

"Ah… a fellow scholar." The old man's cornblue eyes twinkled, "Be that as it may, I cannot allow you to remain in the castle without punishment considering that your victim was the son of a well-respected man in our little community. I have no doubt that he will be here shortly to ask for Helen's expulsion. If you leave beforehand…. I might just be able to protect her. You understand that she needs to continue her studies do you not?"

"Oh yes, I do." The man carelessly flicked an invisible fleck of dust from his armored hand, "But I shall not leave my Master's side. If I have to go, she will have go with me since both of us will die if I do not stay by her side. No doubt there are other schools that will accept her gladly. Mayhaps Beauxbaton, the Flower Garden of France?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry," Dumbledore countered in a grandfatherly tone, "I've already solved that little problem. I can simply provide a replacement source of energy for both of you; it can be easily done within a fortnight."

Well, that certainly explained why the man hadn't interfered before this, Hawke thought to himself, the man was busy trying to find a way to separate him from Helen. The black haired man tired of the subtle dance, simply stood up, "I do believe that's enough for now don't you? We both know I'm not going anywhere and nothing you do can change that."

Hawke turned to leave when he heard the sounds of wood scraping against stone as the Headmaster stood up to his full height, "That is enough, Mr. Hawke." The old white haired man thundered, "This is my school, and you will do as I say."

"I was never really the type to mince words, but I really rather not pull any punches either," The man grumbled audibly as he slowly turned around to come face to face with Dumbledore, "It must really gall you. Knowing that there is someone other than you whispering sweet nothings and reassurances into Helen's ears."

"What are you talking about?!" The tip of the Elder wand began to glow.

Hawke lunged forward with purpose. Allowing a bright yellow spell to barely skim the stubble on his cheek, a gauntlet shut on Dumbledore's thin wrist like a steel trap and twisted. Casually, almost nonchalantly, the man jabbed Dumbledore's elbow and pulled the old man towards him before slamming his head into the desk, prompting screams of fear as every portrait in the room to scream in fear.

"**Be. quiet."** Hawke hissed in a snake like manner.

Every single portrait in the room fell silent while the man under his grip turned a deathly pale, "Voldemort?"

Hawke laughed softly, "Not quite old man. Not quite."

"You will not get away from this!" The old man trapped in Hawke's vice grip grunted, unable to even Apparete away.

"Probably not." Hawke agreed easily, still speaking in a soft, dangerous tone, "More than likely, you will report me to the administration and have me hauled off to Azkaban before the night is over, am I correct?"

"If you know that, then leave peacefully, and I promise nothing harmful shall befall you or your Master!" Dumbledore bit out.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOI-" Without hesitation, Hawke flicked his foot out to throw his blade staff into the air before kicking it. The staff hurtled through the air until it embedded itself, blade first, not two centimeters away from a deathly pale Snape's throat.

A thin red line appeared on the man's neck as blood dripped from the blade.

Without releasing Dumbledore, green eyes stared piercingly at the greasy haired man with an almost pitying glint, "_I did not give you permission to speak. This is your second and last warning. Do that again and I will not miss the next time_."

The softly spoken words were filled such terrible power and promise that the greasy haired man shook at the knees until the emerald embedded in the other side of the staff began to glow before sparking noticeably. Bolts of Avada Kedavra green lightning ran down the stave's length and buried themselves in Snape's body, sending him straight into blissful unconsciousness, away from those terrible, god forsaken, green eyes that held so much hatred.

The same eyes filled with hate he saw every time he had a nightmare.

Hawke nodded in satisfaction, "Now that we are alone again, you were saying something about letting me leave peacefully?"

The man nodded slowly, causing Hawke to laugh softly, "I'm afraid that will not do old man. You see, I have no intention of leaving. You know that you can't kill me and I definitely **don't** want to kill you, but you also know that if you were to send me to Azkaban, I would simply fight my way out, no doubt killing a great many people in the process, until I reach Helen's side again. People would then be sent to recapture me, but I would simply kill them again and again, until no one is left. I don't think you can afford that now can you?"

The man's words buzzed around Dumbledore's skull like a thousand bees, but one simple one stood out the most, "You **don't **want to kill me?"

Hawke released Dumbledore with a smile, freeing the man to leap back with an agility that belied his age as he snatched his discarded wand from the top of the table.

"Aye, It's not that I don't. It's not I can't." Hawke smiled and slowly lifted his metal hand as a tiny projection of an old, white haired man dressed in painfully bright robes began to float above his palm, "I WON'T kill you." Hawke grinned sickly, "I want to torture you. I want to see your eyes as I take everything away from you, I want to see the despair in your eyes as I break you so completely before you turn insane. I want you to _pay _for everything you've done to me. Again and again, every time I'm summoned. I don't even care if you're genuinely good; I just want to see you suffer…."

The metal hand clenched with a terrible screech of metal, crushing the projection into a screaming wreck before disappearing.

"What… are you?" the old man asked breathlessly, there was only one man who had ever shown such outright hatred for his own person before. That same person was supposedly still nothing but a floating pair of eyeballs and a mouth but somehow, he had managed to reform.

Did he underestimate the bond that Voldemort shared with Helena? Did it allow this monstrosity to enter Hogwarts in this form?

Hawke smiled sweetly.

"What am I?" The man laughed as if he had just heard the best joke ever.

"Stop playing the fool and answer the question! Are you Voldemort?" Dumbledore demanded loudly.

The man who could have been a doppelganger for James Potter spread his hands as if to hug the old man.

"Voldemort? No. I am your greatest creation."

******Blessed Curse******


End file.
